Under Pressure
by Mirene the Mermaid
Summary: There was only one woman that N desired. Said woman was currently trapped within his chambers. Touko wasn't very cooperative at the moment, but N was sure she would have a change of heart after he was done with her. When placed under pressure, even the strongest glass will shatter, and those shattered pieces will fall into place the way he wants them to. ferriswheelshipping
1. Flashback

Mirene: Hi everybody! Well, it's my first time writing for the Pokemon archive, but I just love ferriswheelshipping. Truth be told, I haven't played in a long time and B&W2 won't be getting in my hands anytime soon, so I'm writing a sort of AU fic. For now I'm going to go off into my own fantasies about pokemon, so don't mind any idiotic pokemon mistakes and read on! Thanks for giving this a try! I don't own Pokemon! );

* * *

Prologue

* * *

N stared for a very, very long time. He didn't know how long, but it was very long.

She was just that mesmerizing to him.

Standing there on the stage in front of his people inside a small, private auditorium that he happened to own. It was so funny how she thought this was completely out of the Plasma Kingdom's hands. But still, he liked her confidence. In fact, he liked everything about her. Ever since they first met.

It was so, so long ago when they first met.

Truth be told, he wouldn't be surprised if she completely forgot who he was, but he would never forget her. She was the one who changed his mind about the world. It was a memory he had long cherished during all the passing years. It shaped him into the strong, handsome man he is now, the ruler of Unova. King Ghetsis stepped down from the throne years ago, demoted to a sage. The sages were still important, but N's word triumphed over any old fool's opinion - even that of his father's. The reign of the Plasma Kingdom over Unova had dated back to when Reshiram was still one with Zekrom... Or so their historians have recorded. Back then, all the rulers were highly respected and known to be kind and gentle. Even Ghetsis showed that side of him in public (and only public).

But once in his childhood, he ran away from the castle tower due to being unable to handle his father's usual harsh strictness on that fateful night. The memory was still vivid in his mind.

* * *

_"Imbecile!" the old man yelled at his son, the two goddesses watching helplessly from the sidelines before being called away. The little boy, his green hair tied in a small ponytail behind his back, flinched at the harsh words directed at him. "How dare you talk back to me!"  
_

_"But father, I was only asking if there were other humans who treated pokemon nicely, someone like me or-"  
_

_"Shut up!" N was slapped harshly across the face, crashing down onto the cold, tiled floor. "No human is allowed to interact with pokemon but us. Only the plasma kingdom can use pokemon. Other humans would only hurt them... Have you forgotten? Do you need another trip to the dungeons and talk to the criminals about it? Or do you want to visit the Pokemon Center, the CC unit, or the near-death unit? Well?"  
_

_N quivered silently, biting his bottom lip in fear he might say something again and get punished for it.  
_

_"Don't anger me again, son," he growled. "As heir to the throne... you should know better." And the old king stomped off, locking the door behind him. From behind the door, N listened for his footsteps, but only heard icy words. "And no dinner tonight."  
_

_N sat in the corner, eyes closed. He knew the goddesses would bring him some food later, even if it was only a little. They were his mothers, more parent-like than his father would ever be. Why was his father so cruel? He never understood it. Was this how fathers were supposed to be?  
_

_He stared out the windows, his eyes searching for something, anything, in the woods. In those woods, Anthea had told him that pokemon live there, but usually avoid any Plasma grunts and humans in particular unless they sense safety from them. N wanted to meet a pokemon that hadn't been wounded yet. One that could seek safety within him. If there was any...  
_

_Determined to find a pokemon and to defy his father for once, he opened the window and slowly began to climb down the tower with a rope made of bedsheets he had made before he climbed out. Reaching the bottom at last, he ran into the woods. If everything goes well, he may not even have to go back until he felt like it.  
_

_Time had passed, and he had gotten lost in the woods and was cold and hungry. A storm had been brewing in the sky when he escaped and now the rain pierced his skin like ice. Hiding under a bush to escape from the storm, N felt as if he was going to die of hypothermia. _

_Suddenly, a swift movement was heard and he jumped in fear. The entire bush shook with him and caused a few leaves to rustle off. He could hear footsteps, loud and clear. N shivered, thinking that it was Ghetsis coming to take him back and beat the bloody shit out of him for leaving so suddenly.  
_

_It was then that the girl found him to take him in. She had been out with a friend and was returning home through a shortcut in the woods. "Wah, it's raining! Come on Lillipup!"_

_'Lillipup?' N thought. 'A pokemon is with her? At least it's a stranger and not Ghetsis,' he sighed in relief - he sighed a little too loudly, for the lillipup began barking and running towards his spot, scratching at the bush. N gave the pokemon a good look. It was clean and healthy, with plenty of energy, even though it was with a human other than someone from the Plasma kingdom._

_Suddenly she stopped and spotted N, hiding in a bush. "Here, lillipup... Here boy, here." He blinked; did she not find him? "Is there a pokemon in the bush, pup?" Touko began walking towards the bush, crouching down and sticking her hand in. "Here, I won't hurt you, pokemon."  
_

_"I'm a human," N spoke up. That startled Touko and caused her to fall on her butt. "Go away," N mumbled. He had never seen a girl as small as himself before.  
_

_"Oops. My bad. Well, can't have you staying in a bush now! You can come with me until the rain stops." He stared at the hand invading his space in the bush. Was this girl trustworthy? "Come on, it's hella cold you know," she scolded. He still stayed in the bush. Touko smirked with an idea. "Fine, I guess you can stay there and have the big cofagrigus turn you into a mummy in the middle of the night."  
_

_N, frightened at the sound of running into a coffee grinder that would turn him into his mommy in the middle of the night, scrambled out of the bush and looked at the girl with large, azure eyes. "P-Please don't leave me alone," he squeaked. Touko smiled warmly and helped him up, her hand instantly warming his.  
_

_"I won't. Come on, mom's made delicious soup back home! You can have some and stay if you want. I've never seen people around this forest besides me and my mom."  
_

_"You live in this forest?" he gasped. "But this is a place for solely pokemon. You'll get arrested!"  
_

_"They won't know," she grinned. "We're travellers, me and my mom. We'll be gone before they even suspect us!" N was quiet and Touko led him into a small cottage made of logs. A few gurdurrs were still piling on logs. N could hear them humming happily while they were working. The lillipup, which already ran ahead of the two, was barking in hunger.  
_

_"I'm hungry! Hurry up, Touko!" the lillipup barked. N was surprised to hear how carefree it was around this human. He thought... that all humans were bad. And that they treated pokemon cruelly.  
_

_Once N was warmed up and had soup, he learned a lot about Touko and her mom. They travelled everywhere, trying to defy the Plasma kingdom, spreading word of life with pokemon would be so much better and less lonely. Once in a while, they'd pick up some pokemon who wanted to tag along with them. N shivered when Touko showed him her pokeballs. He was thoroughly taught that these were prison machines, but he didn't dare say a thing to Touko. The way she spoke about Plasma made him scared of how she would treat him if he told her that he was the next heir for the throne! He had learned to like her.  
_

_"Okay, you should sleep now. You can stay over until the storm is over," she smiled, holding his hand as he snuggled into the futon beside her. She was so warm. "Good night, friend."  
_

_"Friend?" N whispered.  
_

_"Yeah, I don't know your name," she mentioned. "And we're friends! You know, people who know and like each other! If we hang out often enough, you can be my best friend, which is more special than a friend."  
_

_"A friend..." he murmured. The word tasted funny in his mouth, the way it rolled off his tongue. "Friend."  
_

_"Yeah, unless you tell me your name," she giggled.  
_

_"No. I'll stay your friend," he stated.  
_

_"Go to sleep you two," Touko's mother scolded. The two laughed before dozing off. Of course, the older lady knew exactly who the little boy was. But after tending to that swollen cheek of his, it fired up her spirit to bring the Plasma kingdom down even more. After tomorrow, they would have to leave. And right after Touko made another friend... she hoped that this friendship would help her in the future. For now...  
_

_The next morning, N awoke at the edge of the forest. Touko had left him a note.  
_

_"Dear friend," he read aloud to himself. "Mom said we had to leave immediately. I'm sorry we couldn't take you along, but mom made me drop you off at the edge of the forest even though I kept telling her how dangerous it was to be so close to the castles. I don't know how to write, so I made mom write this for me. Someday, I'm sure we will meet again! I left you a small gift to remember me by. Until we meet again, Touko." He glanced at the small hairtie attached to the note. It was light brown, like the color of her hair.  
_

_Disposing of his old one, he used the new hairtie. He would never forget Touko.  
_

_Friend...  
_

_He would have to ask Anthea or Concordia about that later. For now... he should go and get his punishment over with quickly. All while being terribly scolded and beaten by his father, only one thing kept him alive through the whole ordeal, and that was the possibility of meeting Touko again. And that ordeal was so horrible that he never, ever tried to escape again. Ever.  
_

* * *

After that, of course, Ghetsis trained him hard and ruthlessly. No longer was he the weak, quivering boy in his childhood. He was now muscular, lean, and headstrong. Concordia and Anthea explained what a friend was to him, and didn't hesitate to tell him more as he grew. He was trained to be as strong as a conkeldurr, as swift as a zebstrika, and as smart as all of the sages' heads put together. Indeed, he was now fit for a king's position.

And he knew who was going to be his queen. Anthea and Concordia had... cultivated this emotion he had for Touko. They didn't know that she was a mere stranger he had met during his childhood rebellion, they thought she was an idol in one of their magazines. Thinking it was better for the boy to have a idol crush than a real one, they helped him... move on with Touko.

And now that his 21st birthday was in one month, he had to find Touko within that month and make her presentable on the day he becomes of a marrying age, and no doubt the sages would be forcing him into some dates with their own daughters after. To avoid that, he would present her to Unova as his fiancee that day.

When Concordia and Anthea found out, they were so upset. More upset than he had ever seen them. He didn't know why until he found his beloved. Still staring at her, he watched her give a small speech, instantly capturing the hearts of her listeners. They would learn that betraying the kingdom would hurt soon enough, but for now he would continuing laying his eyes on her.

Her eyes were now cold, not warm like in the past. She was lean and beautiful, with seductive curves and amazing proportions. She wore a pink cap, white tank top, a blue, bulletproof vest, and jean short shorts. Her hair was in a ponytail as always, and pokeballs hung from her hips in a belt. She was a trainer.

A trainer! Of course, he had saw this future coming. He knew she would become a trainer, it was just so painfully obvious after she showed him her first pokeball. That glint from back then in her eyes was long gone, but he knew that wasn't why the goddesses were so pissed off about Touko's real identity.

He knew why the goddesses were so mad at him. To be honest, he didn't see this one coming. At all. He would think that after his face was practically all over Unova by now, she would have recognized him as the friend from her childhood. But she didn't remember. And if she did, that was quite cruel of her.

A smirk on his face as she finished her speech, he hopped off of the roof and away from the window he had been looking through. He had one month to capture her. Not now, of course, but when she is alone and weaker. Then he would strike. And he would have her.

Once his friend, now his enemy, in the future his queen: Touko, the leader of the APO: the Anti-Plasma Organization.

* * *

Mirene: Eek! I hope that was okay... The characters might be OOC though... oh well. I really have to get to homework now... ): Sorry for any mistakes and leave a review please! Btw, I put this under games because I've never read the manga nor watched the anime. (: Just played pokemon, you know, all my life. :D

Also, there is a poll in my profile regarding this story as well as others. Please vote!


	2. Undella Town

Mirene: Yay, a good start to this fic so far! :D I hope you didn't judge this story by the prologue, because that wasn't even a part of the plot! Well, it kind of is, but you know what I mean! Anyways, I don't own Pokemon.

Let the story begin!

* * *

Chapter 1

* * *

Touko stared miserably at the photo in her hands, tears dripping down incessantly. The sky pitied her, no longer daring to show its bright, sunny face, and instead showering its sympathy onto the Earth. On the blurring photo was an image of her and her mother with lillipup, stained with months' worth of teardrops.

"Yo, Touko," Touya hopped in nonchalantly, thinking about how he was going to invite Touko to Nimbasa City on a date, but disguised as a mission. There was a different mission assigned to her by Juniper, but Touya was thinking someone else could do the job. Upon looking at her state, he froze midway through the door in shock. "Or, erm, actually, I'll come back la-"

"It's fine," she grumbled, hastily wiping her eyes from the tears. "I'm fine. What is it?"

Touya walked in calmly and handed her a plain, yellow folder with white papers inside, neatly clipped together. "Papers. Rebellion recruits, alliance proposals, letters from allies and spies, and I think a few love letters too," he smiled. Touko tried to return the smile, she really did.

"Love letters huh? Haven't they figured out that I don't feel like making anyone mean anything to me anymore?" Touya was silent, his smiled wiped off instantly. "I'm the leader of this rebellion. If anyone is going to be hurt, it's going to be me and my organization. People will be hurt.. and killed. I already have you, Cheren, Bianca, and Juniper to worry about. I don't need to worry about any more people."

"It wouldn't hurt to love," he murmured softly. "After all... You could love someone you already love, just at a different level."

Touko stood up abruptly, placing the photo and the folder onto her desk. "We are not having this talk again. I gave you my answer months ago, Touya."

"Back then you weren't so cold."

She scowled at him. "You know the reason why."

Now he was the one to get angry, shooting up and grabbing her shoulders, his face in close proximity to her own, lips only inches away. "Your mother wouldn't have wanted you to be like this! You know that!"

"I just can't do this," Touko growled. "It hurts too much! Love is too painful! Friendship is already painful, but not as painful as love. My relationship with the people close to me now was from long ago, and pointless in severing ties. That's the only reason, Touya," she pushed his chest away from her. "If it weren't for Juniper in the past... I would have never let myself get close to anyone again. Even you."

"Your mother didn't die so you could be like this!"

"My mother didn't have to die!" she cried freely, tears streaking down her cheeks like a waterfall. "That damned king didn't have to do this! He didn't have to kill her!" she sobbed. "None of this had to happen!"

"But it did."

Touko nodded. "And that's why the king will suffer. Only one thing can pay for a life. And that's another life." She threw the packet on her messy desk. "Leave, Touya. And don't ever speak about your feelings to me again."

"You were different, Touko. That's why everyone thinks this position is getting to your head. Staying in the base too long, giving speeches, it's giving you too much free time to grieve - and we know it's not healthy for you."

"And how would you know? Try getting your mother killed with a Fusion Flare, along with all of her pokemon."

Touya gritted his teeth. "Leader, we're sending you out on a mission. Tonight. It's a simple one, so no need to be on guard. You won't even need backup or anything. You're just bringing an important person back to this base."

Touko began quickly tying up her hair, hanging her trusty pokeballs on her hip belt. Her facial expression was that of a poker face, though it had a smudge of smugness and resentment in it.

"Whatever."

* * *

N smirked haughtily as a report was sent to his room.

Apparently, his spies within the organization (grunts that were selected and trained for this very job since their teenage years) have found out that Touko is going on a mission tonight.

Alone.

He couldn't have asked for a better opportunity.

Of course, the mission is unknown. His spies were ranked too low to know any good information, but that was fine. As long as they could capture the big idea, that would be fine. Until a spy grabs hold of a strong position in the organization and begins the decay of their rebellion, there really was nothing N could do. They were numerous, incredibly secretive, and so far have had no conflict established with them yet.

Of course, except for the fact that Touko's mother tried to reason with Ghetsis with words. Silly woman. N hadn't planned on killing her, but at the moment Reshiram's power clearly overwhelmed him and she was gone.

He had felt no remorse, only the wonder of how Touko would feel. He prompted the grunts to take the ashes and put them inside a vase to send to a spy. A while after, the spy had notified Touko's indescribable rage at their kingdom and most of all, their king. N was amused to hear that she had said she would come for him with a dull chainsaw and slowly bring him to his death. He had even laughed out loud of front of his subjects.

"Touko... You don't know how long I've been waiting," he whispered, staring at the old, useless hairtie she had given him long ago. He had only used it a few times, being careful as to not wear it out and accidentally snap it. N wondered if she would recognize it if she saw it now...

"My lord." Anthea calmly walked inside the room, handing him a tray of warm soup. "This should warm you up enough for tonight." Her fists were clenched at her sides, forcing herself to utter kind words. "I hope your plan to capture... capture... Touko, to capture Touko, will be successful."

N smiled. "Please, Anthea, don't force yourself."

"Then don't take her. Take another, preferably some dashing princess from Johto or Kanto, please," she scoffed. "Why her? Why the devil leader of that heretic organization of enslaving pokemon?" She looked in disgust at the hairtie in his hands. "And that... thing!"

"You've never even seen her before," N reasoned. "There aren't any photos of her anywhere, not even any of my spies could get a picture. Not even I could the other day," he said, taking in some soup.

"I just know she isn't right for you. She'll only bring you down."

"Anthea..."

"I'll leave now. Concordia will drop by with your items for later soon." And she quickly exited in a fit. N frowned at the sight of his mother-like figure angry. Was Concordia angry as well?

His answer was received when he had finished his soup and found the goddess mentioned leave the items on the side before huffing and closing the door. She didn't even bother to greet him. N chuckled; she was definitely angry.

But he knew once he brought her home, the two women would change their mind instantly. After all, Touko was an angel. His angel.

* * *

"Liel, get my bag."

"Yes, leader-sama!"

"Just call me Touko, okay?"

"Yes, leader Touko-sama!"

"I SAID TOUKO, LIEL!"

"Yes, Touko-sama!"

Touko rubbed her temple in frustration as the handsome man gave her a playful grin. "Thank you," she sighed as she received the bag of items from the rookie recruit. His name was Liel, according to the name badge on his chest. "Please give this to Cheren for me, it's an important folder. Don't try opening it, it has a voltorb seal and it'll zap any unwanted eyes."

"Y-Yes, Touko-sama!"

"I'll be off then," she sighed as she watched Liel run off. He was a frisky one. Someone should keep an eye on him or he might trip or do something clumsy. She smiled; Liel had been one of her very first recruits, although he had been offered promotions, he always turned each one down, eager to serve only her. Honestly, he was a person who had earned her trust long ago.

"Goodbye, Liel," she said to no one inside the hallway before leaving outside into the night. "Unfezant, go!" she yelled as she threw a pokeball, unleashing her trustworthy male unfezant. "Come on, we need to get to Undella Town. We're going to meet the Sinnoh champion," she beamed.

The pokemon stared at her, as if knowing how fake her smile was. "Don't look at me like that. I'm excited to meet her, I swear," she said, her hand propped up by her side with a solemn look. The bird nudged her with its neck softly. She chuckled and petted it before getting on.

"Okay, let's go."

* * *

"Where is she going?" N asked the spy.

"I'm not sure," the spy replied. "I'm not of a high rank enough to know about that kind of information. The organization is also keeping its eyes open for spies, so it's too suspicious to ask."

"Get information on her mission," he stated icily through the communication device. "Or face the consequences." A loud gulp and a "yessir" was heard before the device was shut off on the other side. "Typical grunt," the king grumbled.

How was he supposed to initiate his plan if he had false information to act on! He was currently in Nimbasa City, well-hidden nearby the ferris wheel, where his spies had told him that her and Touya were to go to the ferris wheel tonight on some sort of a mission. He knew it sounded unusual since at first they said she was to be alone, but the spy had gotten recorded evidence of Touya's voice from his device. It wasn't until a few moments ago that the spy said that Touko had a different mission to go to now. How angered he was by this!

"There's no other place I can think of... And to think that this Touya actually knew what he was doing," N contemplated. "It must have been a lucky hunch," N laughed it off. His plans never failed.

"Attention, all of Unova. Gateways will now close temporarily due to a rare pokemon sighting. I repeat, gateways will now close temporarily." He then shifted onto a different setting for his communication device on his ear. "All grunts are ordered to search for any suspicious girl with long brown hair in a ponytail with pokemon. Order enforcement required as of now. The search will be over at dawn and consequences will be met with if all goes unsuccessfully."

A smirk played on his face and he grabbed the device off of his ear and stomped on it, breaking all trackers within it. He knew Ghetsis would keeping an eye on him when he gave him the device this morning... what an old fool. But there was no worries. He was content.

He would find Touko soon enough, and then she would be his.

And only his.

* * *

As Touko flew across the Unova, she saw Plasma grunts moving about here and there, gateways turning pitch black with the lights off, and civilians were hurrying into their homes. Looks like Plasma is on a lockdown again. Too bad she wasn't at the base to hear what it was this time.

Probably about some stupid pokemon sighting, like always. Somehow, they've terrorized most of the current citizens of Unova to be afraid of pokemon. Nowadays, Touko found it difficult to convince people to join their organization for that reason. Many people believe that Plasma is right in banning pokemon and humans from coexisting with one another.

Only a very selected amount of society ever agreed with their views. Sometimes, they would only get as many as ten recruits per year, much less than the ones dying in the ongoing rebellions. Amazingly, Plasma has managed to keep this conflict rather quiet since the APO didn't declare an actual war yet... there weren't enough people. Touko had been continuously looking, but several have already given up on pokemon. Looking at her unfezant, she just couldn't imagine giving up on her pokemon like that. She would never do that, not even at the cost of her life.

Blinking a few times, Touko kept silent as she looked for the champion. Touya could have at least given her a picture of what the hell she looked like instead of the vague description of long blonde hair and fancy black clothing! Oh how she would strangle him for his lack of preparation when she returned...

She was snapped out of her thoughts as she saw the a blonde with a black coat arguing with grunts, yelling at them loudly for not letting her inside to use the payphone. The grunts, in fear of losing their jobs more than their fear of the rather loud lady, brought out a few sandiles.

Throwing on a jet black long-haired wig from her bag, she jumped off of her unfezant and returned it to its ball, tucking the belt under her billowing tank top. "Cynthia! It's me, Y-Yuka!" she winked. The grunts glanced at her.

"Sorry, this is my friend. She's new, so please excuse her. Take these coins as an apology," Touko shoved the money into one grunt's hands. "I truly apologize..." her eyes gleamed in the moonlight that paled her face naturally, making her look like the fabled Kaguya-hime.

"N-no problem!" the grunt muttered, grabbing the other grunt with him. "Come on, w-we should let them go home and rest. Can I have your number first?"

Touko shook her head, biting her lip cutely. "I'm sorry, I don't own a cell phone."

"Th-that's fine! Maybe we can arrange to hang out sometime-" the guy grunt was stopped midway by being pinched on the ear by the girl grunt, who angrily dragged him away and clearing the trouble.

"You are Cynthia, yes?"

The blonde smiled at her, bowing slightly. Touko smiled back.

"Cynthia! It's very nice to meet you, I'm Touko... from the APO," she offered her hand. Cynthia took it tightly, almost crushing Touko's much smaller hand. When Touko tried to let go, Cynthia held on to it with a gentle face.

"You're quite the flirt... Touko."

Was it just her, or did Cynthia just glare at her?

"It was nothing, just a defense mechanism," Touko blushed. "Anyways, we should get going. I'll be taking you back to the base and-" she glanced at their hands still intertwined. "Erm, you can let go now."

"No, Touko," the woman said as Touko came to a realization a bit too late. "You're not going anywhere."

"You're not Cynthia."

"And you're not as smart as I thought."

Touko felt a pain in her gut before succumbing to the darkness.

_"It's a simple one, so no need to be on guard. You won't even need backup or anything."_

Stupid Touya.

* * *

Mirene: A few notes - Liel looks like Fujisaki Nagihiko from Shugo Chara, only with jet black hair. His style is pretty much the same, and his personality seems carefree and humorous at the moment. Kaguya-hime is a princess of the moon in fables.

And so, that's the second installment of this story! (: And please drop a review, it really encourages me to keep writing. Thank you to all my reviewers from before: Guest, sweettjrose, ikutolover182, Queen Rima, Serenading Blossom, Clouds of Mist, and reviewr!

Also, don't forget about the poll on my profile!


	3. The One and Only

Mirene: ;A; Everyone's reviews make me so happy. Your kind words make me overflow with the want to write, and so, here is the third installment of this fic. To be honest I'm bursting with inspiration for this fic! Maybe it's the change of archive that's motivating me. I think it's making me rush, ha.

Alas, I do not own Pokemon.

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

"Kuuh..." Touko murmured, awaking with a pain in her abdomen area. She opened her eyes and found her surroundings were white walls, a nightstand with a lamp, and a bed she was laying on. She also found that she couldn't get off the bed since both her ankles were shackled to the bedpost.

Trying to recall last night, she didn't remember getting arrested and thrown into a mental asylum... In fact, she had been on a mission. One that had miserably failed with her getting caught. Oh yes, and that mental note to strangle Touya once she got back.

"Awake already?"

She turned to the source of the sound, surprised to see a beautiful lady. "You're not Cynthia," she remembered.

"I thought you figured that out last night," Concordia laughed as she walked towards the bed, pushing a small cart into the room. "I understand why N is so fascinated with you now. You're not bad-looking at all. In fact, with a bit of a polish... you could pass for royalty."

"Royalty isn't beauty," Touko spat, immediately sitting up. "Unchain me! I'll go talk some sense into your damned king!"

"Don't you dare disrespectfully refer to my master like that," Concordia snapped. "I'll let you go on two conditions. One, you are never to ever marry N, if by some lucky chance you fall in love with him. Two, you are to keep this repellent chip within her shoulder at all times. It will cause a sharp pain should N come in contact with your skin."

"A chip? You're kidding."

"Us plasma goddesses do not 'kid'."

Touko sighed - this woman was crazy. Then again, anyone from the Plasma kingdom was crazy. "And then you'll let me go?" she frowned.

Concordia smiled a little too sweetly, causing Touko to shiver as she stepped closer, caressing the brunette's cheek. "You're not as stupid as I took you for."

"Oh, but it's not quite the same for you," Touko said before she leapt out of the bed, breaking off the bed posts along with the shackles. Concordia's wide eyes stared at Touko as the shove from Touko slammed her into the wall, making her drop the chip. "You see, miss from the kingdom..." she began, picking up the chip from the ground. "I'm not good at following orders. In fact, I'm quite bad." In one second, she had the goddess pinned up against the wall, wrists held back and faces inches away. "Right, miss?"

"You... you... You've got to be on steroids or something!" Concordia growled.

Touko took the repellent chip from her hand into her mouth and forcefully placed her lips onto Concordia's, forcing the chip down her throat. Concordia gagged on it but was forced to swallow. Touko let go, spitting out saliva. "There. Payback for jabbing me with your needle of sleep powder."

"How dare you-"

Touko quickly pulled her body forward and placed a swift chop on her neck pressure point, causing the lady to pass out efficiently. "Good night, miss. I'm not the leader of the APO for nothing," she said, placing the body on the bed and searched for her belongings. Her pokeballs were stashed under the bed in a chest which she easily broke open. Perhaps Concordia didn't think Touko had that kind of power in her; how wrong she was.

Well, a mother's death can blow a big impact, that's for sure. Touko didn't know how many times she went to the private gym inside her base just to take her mind off of the depression. Not to mention she ate healthy like crazy - working out had that toll on her and she was a comfort food kind of person.

"Touya is so dead," she grumbled as she marched out of the room, releasing her hydreigon to unleash some damage. She only ran into a few grunts before making it outside. Hydreigon had only been flapping its wings and still managed to break down some of the building as well as repel grunts. Is this all Plasma can do? She laughed as she rode her pokemon into the sky. The building had been in the middle of wilderness and the closest city nearby was Nimbasa City, and that already took time to get to.

"Hydreigon, let's stop by here. Return!" she took the pokemon back and carefully leapt from the retreating form of the hydreigon, landing on a tree and carefully climbing down. "Funny, it's barely almost dawn. That woman was either stupid or really unprepared to kidnap me." Glancing at the dark, inactive city made her grimace as grunts ran by here and there. She noticed that only the ferris wheel seemed to be operating, which was odd for this time of night... or morning.

"What in the world?" Touko gasped as she saw several grunts by the ferris wheel from the bushes she was hiding in. "What are they doing?"

"I'm not sure, but you're late, Miss Touko," a voice slowly crept behind her and put a hand on Touko's shoulder, showing pokeballs for proof as an ally. Touko turned around to stare at a beautiful woman with black clothing and long, blond hair.

"Please tell me you're Cynthia," she groaned in hope.

Cynthia gave her a warm smile that reassured Touko, who relaxed her shoulders in relief as Cynthia crawled in a little closer to her.

"The one and only."

* * *

"Ilysium," N muttered. The lower-rank Plasma advisor humbly stepped into the room.

"Master is always careful. Always able to tell when I come," he smiles. "Anyhow, we found news that Concordia-sama along with the help of Anthea-sama has kidnapped Touko-sama, who then escaped after destroying part of the forest building where the sages' labs are."

"Those two... Were they under any orders?"

Ilysium was quiet, unsure if speaking would be wise. The man was a tall one, nearly at height with the king in front of him. He had short, spiky silver hair and exotic golden eyes. His skin was pale from never being assigned any outside missions, since his sole job was to serve the king and the king only. He was the one person who would never in his life betray N.

"Ilysium," N said impatiently, tapping his foot against the cold marble and creating a tick-tock inside of the subject's mind.

"Under... Under their own choices," he said quietly, not daring to see the look on his superior's face. He much rather continue looking at the ground with his reflection, showing enough shame in his eyes to even cover for Concordia and Anthea. Him being disappointed in them was a massive understatement.

"Tell them to not see me within this week or I might go ballistic."

Ilysium sighed. "Yes."

"Dismissed."

Ilysium allowed himself to leave the room within the second. N sat down on his king-sized bed, gazing at the ceiling. Had it not been for the goddesses, he might have had a chance to have her tonight. But he knew that wasn't the case. The goddesses had been nowhere near him during that day.

They had found her somewhere not even close to him, didn't bother to tell him, and now they've let her escape. Next time she would surely be on better guard after this ordeal, not to mention several minions were injured and the cost of the damage to the building wouldn't be cheap. He would need more tax revenue.

"Those women..." he sighed. This must have been their goal. Anthea must have accidentally took his remark the other day seriously when he told her that she didn't have to force herself to feel happiness for him. Instead, she took it as if he said "If you find her before I do, you win!".

Despite all the love he has for them, he was really pissed off. He was looking forward to that day. But then he decided that it was no matter. He could wait. Surely he could wait.

The question was, how long would he be willing to?

"Sir, we found Cynthia, the Sinnoh champion!" a grunt communicated through the device piece in his ear that he had gotten himself. If there was one thing burned into his mind during his childhood from Ghetsis' teachings, it was never trust anyone but yourself."

"Good," he muttered. Cynthia should be on the way to the base. "Disguise yourself as a rebel and offer to take her to the base. Relocate her to the western part of the kingdom and take her underground and then take her pokemon."

"That's no good! Touko-sama is with her!"

N's eyes widened. Another opportunity? "They're alone?"

"Trying to sneak out of Nimbasa City, your majesty!"

"Close off all gates," he yelled. "Make sure they don't leave the city." He took out a large orb, gleaming white with a small, blue fire inside of it. Reshiram had given it to him long ago, accepting the human king. Reshiram had told him that whenever he needed the legendary pokemon, simply call him through the orb, which it referred to as the Azuren Flare. N closed his eyes, channeling his feelings of dependency to Reshiram.

Within seconds, the broad, white dragon soared above his castle, making a grand entrance as N opened the ceiling for the deity to land inside the room, large enough to fit even three reshirams. _You are in need,_ Reshiram spoke.

N nodded. _I'm going to find the one I love. _

Reshiram spread out its wings, as wide as mountains.

_Then let us go find her._

* * *

"What in the name of Arceus?" Cynthia cursed as she spied several grunts, perhaps around 100 of them in their silvery suits, guarding every single gateway that led to leaving Nimbasa City. The only way to get out of there now was to either use pokemon, which would definitely draw unwanted attention, or to escape into the forest.

"They might leave soon. These sort of things happen once in a while, it's nothing to worry about."

"There's so many!"

Touko gulped. "Yeah, today there are many of them. Speaking of which, how did you get here?"

Cynthia smiled with a hint of mischief. "With my trusty Spiritomb!"

"Spiritomb?"

"I'd show you but now is not the time." Cynthia took another glance out of the bushes. "They've been there for a while. How long do these usually last? If more than an hour, we should leave into the forest."

"The forest sounds good," Touko agreed until they both clamped their mouths and halted all movements as grunt feet were seen only inches away from their face.

A woman grunt cackled. "This machine," she said to the inspired gruntling beside her, "can detect human beings. It will loudly beep once we find the Sinnoh champion and the rebel leader." She hovered the machine over the bushes, right over the two's heads.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BE-

"See? This button here can also make it beep. When you press it again like I just did, it instantly stops. Neat, isn't it?" The gruntling nodded eagerly. "Anyways, I wonder why the machine beeped." She peered through the bushes, separating the branches with her gloved hands. "Nothing is here..." She stared at the instrument in her hand. "Ugh, I can't believe I got ANOTHER defected human sensor! Come on kid, we need a new toy!" The two soon left with Touko quietly hyperventilating while laying flat down. Cynthia smiled calmly.

"We were in quite the pickle."

Touko sat up. "No kidding. How did that girl not see us anyways? I've seen her fight in battles against us before. She's quite experienced..."

"Ah," Cynthia glanced through the bushes. "That's because my spiritomb here hid us from her eyes. He blinded her with a dream that would soon turn into a nightmare." Just seconds after she said that, a distinct scream was heard and a controversial mass conversation of worry followed. "See? It takes a big toll on it though. It must have wanted to protect us."

"That's sweet. Where is it now?"

Cynthia laughed out loud, causing Touko to worry and look out the bushes. Thankfully, the guarding grunts didn't hear. "Well, darling, it's right next to your cute face."

Touko screamed as the purple blob formed in front of her face. Grunts were alert and heard the scream that Touko let out. "We have to go now!" she yelled as she summoned her unfezant. "Are you riding with that..." she glanced at the violet ghost happily nudging its owner. "That thing?"

"Of course, Spiritomb is an excellent pokemon," she held onto the pokemon with one arm as the ghost carried her into the air. "Stay not more than three feet away from Spritomb, otherwise he won't cover you and pokemon from Plasma."

"You are indeed the champion of Sinnoh," Touko stared in awe as she looked at Cynthia and her pokemon. They looked incredibly in sync and happy together, and Cynthia was also stunningly beautiful. "I really want to battle you back at the base."

"You'll have to get me there first."

"Then let's go!" Touko shouted as her unfezant flew ahead. "I'll race you!" Cynthia hadn't felt such cold air in the sky make her feel so warm in so long. There was just something about Touko that made her feel comfortable. "Don't tell me you're afraid of losing?" Touko teased.

"Oh, I have no intention of losing."

Grunts looked up to see two silhouettes racing across the sky. Thinking that it was Plasma pokemon, they shrugged it off. Then another being came into the sky, only seconds after the first two blurs. This pokemon was easily seen and identified. Some newbie grunts stared in awe while others prayed, kneeled, bowed, took off their hoods, etc.

"Stay on post Plasma, I'll handle this," N said into his device as he flew after Cynthia and Touko, who were now visible because they thought they were too high up for anyone to notice. Reshiram growled and its roar boomed in the sky, sounding like the crash of thunder to the civilians below. He saw the two turn around, gasp, and then speed up. Seeing Touko was like an elixir of motivation for him. He greedily took in her image, and her troubled one was not bad. The other woman he only wanted for her rare pokemon.

Suddenly, a shadow ball came his way. Reshiram dodged it easily despite its enormity. N glared the the Sinnoh Champion. She thought she could actually lay a hand on his Reshiram because she was the so called best battler in the Sinnoh region? N wanted to laugh in spite, but the two dove down, trying to escape from him.

What they didn't realize that with N, escape was impossible. Once white, scattered clouds clustered and darkened, hiding the sky as Reshiram unleashed its fury into the clouds. It didn't like the way its owner was feeling, the human emotion of spite. It never did any good. N noticed this and calmed himself down, apologizing to the deity pokemon. The clouds only darkened further as N trailed after them.

A storm was coming.

* * *

Mirene: Grah. Does this seem too fast for you? :p N has been waiting a long time for these opportunities to get Touko, so I thought I'd spoil him a little for the first few chapters. After all, he won't be feeling as happy as he was now later on in the story, guaranteed. Well, actually he will, but that might be rare or whatever. I don't know. But anyways, Concordia sure fooled everyone who thought it was N. Haha!

Please vote on my poll for my stories, and leave a review! Reviews really help encourage me to write and post new chapters as quickly as possible. Thank you to all my reviewers of last chapter: Bulla Tulla, Fabia 13, Hachimisu, Serenading Blossom, Queen Rima, Poke-lover88, random reader, and Guest. I'm very grateful for your taking the time to grant me a few words! i love you all!


	4. In The Forest

Mirene: I'm gathering more readers for this fic, yay! I'm really happy! I've been getting a lot more reviews and alerts and favorites for this story, and it totally gets me psyched to write the next chapter which I'm sure everyone has been waiting for! (: Well, don't want to keep you waiting now, so I don't own Pokemon. It's a bit rushed so there might be a shitload of mistakes. Enjooooy!

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

The thunder's percussion rumbled in Touko's ears.

N was too close at the moment, and the rage in his eyes were not in the least bit invisible as Reshiram steadily gained speed. It was now almost certain that he would catch up to them and capture the two in no time. The only way the two would be able to get out of this is if one became a decoy and the other escape.

'Touya, again, when I come back - you shall be minced into minccino meat.'

"Did you say something?" Cynthia asked as the two were still trying to get away despite the closing distance between the two sides.

"Yeah," Touko lied, handing her a pokeball. "Take this. It's a trained abra and it'll get you to the base pronto."

Cynthia caught it as Touko flung it towards her. "And you?"

"Only one abra," she explained quickly. "Just tell Touya when I get back-"

"He'll be minced into minccino meat."

Touko paused, her mouth gaping. "How the hell did you-"

Cynthia laid a finger to her lips, silencing her as she handed a pokeball to Touko. "Take this. A pokemon for a pokemon in return. Trust me, it should do you much good if you ever have to face him sometime later. It's my favorite pokemon," she smiled.

"Cynthia," Touko started, "I can't take this-"

"Well, take it. Abra, go!" Cynthia shouted as she released the abra, instantly teleporting the blonde to the base in a flash of magenta glow without needing to be told for it knew a tasty treat would be waiting at the base for it. Touko grimaced as she realized that the spiritomb stayed with her, guiding her unfezant along as Reshiram summoned a whirlwind with its wide wings.

"Shit!" Touko cursed as the strength of the wind caused the spiritomb to falter, along with her unfezant. Slowly, they were being halted back by the whirlwind, entrapping them in the center of the wind storm. From behind was a very happy and haughty N, who had caught up during the ordeal. "Damn it."

"So good to finally meet you, Touko," he smiled. 'Again,' he silently thought.

'He knows my name... by looking at my face. Damn. Did I ever see him anywhere?' she wondered as N stared at her for a response. She racked through her brain looking for one.

"Fuck you," she spat, the wind directing the saliva back onto her face. Another colorful word left her lips as she wiped it off her cheek with her hand. "What the hell do you want with me? I'm not even anybody important," she lied smoothly. "I'm only an escort of Cynthia-sama. I don't know who this 'Touko' is."

"Is that so?" N mused. She was quite the actress. He would have almost believed her if it weren't for her being Touko - and he knew everything there was to know about her. It's not creepy or obsessive, it's appreciating and acknowledging a worthy human being. "Then it's fine if I take you?"

"Actually," Touko smirked. "Yes, it is. I don't really matter, you see. The rebel base has plenty of members - losing one lowly person isn't even going to leave a dent on their sides." She put her arms out in mock surrender. "So go ahead, take me."

Too easy. N raised his hand towards her, beckoning her to come forward. "Then-"

"Unfortunately," she cut him off with an innocent smile, "you can't." She instantly returned the unfezant into the pokeball, the spiritomb frantically trying to chase down the girl its master told the pokemon to protect as she went free-falling through the air. She clutched Cynthia's mystery pokemon in her hand. 'Please let my gut be right,' she thought as suddenly, a white wing caught her.

'Right on, gut,' she thought and immediately jumped off the wing again without hesitation, to N's surprise and to her successful plan that he would break her fall, and then she landed amongst the trees. The trees of a certain forest.

The forest right next to his kingdom.

"She's smart," he laughed. "And cunningly beautiful. She is indeed fit to be my queen," he told the deity pokemon.

_It seems that she is completely against being with you. For arceus' sake, she threw herself off my wing in less than half a second. That is not normal._

"The better reason to have her," he grinned even wider. "She is so close to being mine right now. She's practically mine already," he breathed. Not a second later, he immediately gave out orders through his com to the Plasma grunts to search the forest.

"So close," he whispered, opening his palm to catch a raindrop before clenching his fist and breaking the single dew in his hand, bringing the drop closer to his face before licking it.

"Touko..."

* * *

Touko sighed on top of a pokemon she didn't even know the name of while the spiritomb hid her presence from passing grunts in search of her. 'I thought my act was quite fooling,' she thought sadly, wondering how he knew her when the organization had done so well to keep her mostly hidden from him. She needed to improve on her acting skills, but she didn't know if she could stand another drama lesson with Bianca-sensei.

"Gar," the pokemon below her whispered. "Garchomp."

"Huh?" she muttered, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Garchomp-chomp. Garrr."

"Are you by any chance a... uhm... grahchump?"

"GAR," the pokemon bellowed irritably as quiet as it could, "CHOMP-UH."

"Garchomp?"

It nodded, almost as if in a sarcastic, bitchy manner.

"Geez, attitude much?" The garchomp huffed and threw her off its back for an answer. "Ow," she muttered as she sat up against a tree trunk, careful not to rustle any leaves or bushes too loudly. "Yes, attitude much," she concluded before shutting her mouth as grunts passed by.

"Where the hell is she? This forest is too damn big," a woman complained.

"I'm pretty sure the other grunts have passed by here before," another man concluded.

"You think she has any rare pokemon keeping her hidden?" the last one spoke timidly.

"I doubt it. I mean, N-sama didn't say anything about that. Like, whether she had pokemon like that or not. Just an unfezant, hydreigon, and... I can't really remember the rest, but they weren't anything special," the woman spat. "I don't really get what's so good about her anyways. She's ordinary-looking. Almost ugly compared to me."

"You're going to get beheaded if he ever hears you say that," the man snickered.

"Hm, nah, maybe he'll see some sense and just marry me," she cackled, and all three of them were laughing away. It was almost completely creepy, so Touko decided to sneak away before the laughter drove her insane. She would never understand grunts. Ever.

Ah, grunts. An idea lit up the lightbulb inside Touko's head.

"Okay garchomp," she whispered to it, who was still giving her attitude, while they continued crawling farther into the forest. "Here is the plan. You too, spiritomb..." she motioned for the spirit pokemon to come closer. It reluctantly obliged as Touko's face distorted into one with an insane thought.

The two pokemon gulped. This wasn't going to be good, was it.

* * *

They were up a tree - a very large, ugly, but leafy tree.

Thanks to spiritomb's psychic, of course. They were waiting to ambush some grunts, take a uniform for Touko to disguise herself, and get out of the forest back to the base scot-free. It was brilliant... to Touko. To the pokemon, well, they just wanted to get back to Cynthia. They were uncomfortable around a foreign trainer who didn't even know what kind of pokemon they were. It was quite insulting, actually.

Touko felt bored as the seemingly hours passed. (They were minutes, of course, or at least she tried to tell herself that.) Garchomp was back inside the pokeball, waiting for Touko to call it out. When it came out, it was to immediately take Touko on its back and use dragon rush to attack and then abandon ground afterwards with spiritomb. They had practiced the routine over and over again... verbally.

She sighed, palming the pokeball with Hydreigon in it. She wanted to talk to it, but it was pretty loud and could not stay still. That would cause quite the problem, so palming it would have to do.

"Why isn't anyone passing by!?" she almost shrieked, but forced herself to whisper as if someone would answer her. Of course, there was no answer.

Or so she thought.

"Who is it that you want to pass by?"

"Eh?" Touko instantly flew off the branch into the bushes. Spiritomb growled, trying to hide Touko and itself from wherever the voice came from. The bushes rustled a little and out popped a green-haired head.

'Well, fuck me,' she thought, giving the man a big, sheepish grin. It was N. (So, the minutes were actually hours after all.)

"Strange, I've never seen a pokemon like you before," he mumbled as his hand reached out as if to touch Touko, but instead touched the spiritomb. "Oh, so you're looking for your friends? I don't think... you're afraid of the humans passing by? They're harmless, really..." he continued to murmur and him and the spiritomb seemed to be holding a conversation. Touko was about to speak when the spiritomb nudged her slightly. She knew she should stay quiet.

But really... was N talking to the spiritomb? And understanding it?

Man, if he was on the rebel team, he'd be quite the asset. Unfortunately, the only asset he would ever be was an ass.

"Did you happen to see any other strangely-dressed human girl passing by as well?" Spiritomb shook its head to say no. N nodded and stood up, bowing goodbye to the pokemon before swiftly striding away. Touko peeped out of the bushes, staring at his back.

"He didn't recognize you from the chase?"

The spiritomb suddenly poofed into nothing and another spiritomb was beside her, bobbing up and down in accomplishment. "Oh, let me guess, you used substitute." Spiritomb rolled over in the air carelessly. "Okay... I'll take that as a yes." Honestly, this pokemon was pretty strong, but it was so... bubbly. Cynthia must have tamed it real good.

N continued to move on in the distance, probably around twenty feet away. Should she follow him or maybe stay here waiting for more grunts? After all, information might be uncovered. Important information. Important information that could be used in the long run against the bastard. And besides, there had been no sign of grunts for who knows how long.

"Spiritomb," she muttered. "Change of plans. We're following him."

Spiritomb nodded by blobbing up and down. It was a bit unsure, but the trainer seemed confident. She supplied enough confidence for the spiritomb as well.

"Alright, let's move out."

* * *

N was tired. Although he was able to meet a fiery, different pokemon he had never seen before; it had looked a little familiar, he couldn't explain it. It could have been the pokemon he saw before on the chase with Touko and the foreign champion, but he remembered exactly how it looked. The one he found was slightly different, but still different. It was also a little too friendly and bubbly to be the enemy's pokemon.

"Touko..." he murmured, unaware that he was being followed thanks to spiritomb's presence masking. "Damn. Where are you?" he sighed as he slumped down and laid against a tree trunk. Touko noticed that he had a small backpack with him as he took the bag and placed it next to his side. Yawning, he stayed there, staring into the distance.

Touko swiftly floated through the air with psychic and nestled herself above N on a branch. If she could grab a hold of that bag, she might be able to find something out. Then Touya would have to beg at her feet for forgiveness some more. 'Too much time on her hands to grieve? How's this for spending that time, hmm?'

After some time, N seemed to be completely still. No pokemon went near him or could be noticed anywhere. The sun was going to rise soon.

Dawn approached.

Touko let out a quiet yawn as she noticed that the king was breathing at a slow, paced rate. Was he asleep? Now was her chance.

Careful to not be in his sight, she beckoned the spiritomb to lower her down as her hand reached for the bag. 'Just a little more,' she stretched her fingers as far as it could go, only inches from the handle of the pack. 'A little more...' her fingers could almost touch it. 'Just a little...'

Finally, she grabbed hold of the bag with her index finger, hooked. She glanced at the spiritomb, who was trying to pull her up. It seemed to be struggling after having used the move for such a long period of time. "You can do it, spiritomb," she whispered pleadingly. "Spiritomb, come on. You can do it. Come on."

The spiritomb groaned loudly before pulling Touko up at a slow pace, obviously exhausted. "Great! Good job, spir-" she began before tumbling down onto N. A firm hand was on her arm, being the culprit that had pulled her down. "Sp-spiritomb! C-cover me!" she whispered, but N smirked.

"Pokemon can't use two moves at once, you know. With that psychic move being used for hours, it's a wonder it didn't faint yet. How cruel to not even let it rest," he muttered, quickly grabbing cuffs from his bag and cuffing her to him in a flash. "And you thought it was covering you? I could see you the whole time."

"Tch!" she yelled, throwing a punch with her left hand. N's right hand caught it easily before catching her lips with his just as easily. She froze as he let go. "Did you just fucking kiss me?"

"Close," he smiled. "You're so close."

"What nonsense are you spouting, bastard!?" she yelled as he pinned her down to the ground. Despite her strength from training, he had pinned down both of her wrists, his knees keeping her thighs down in an unbearably painful way. "Ngh!" she gritted her teeth as his knees ground into her thigh marrow.

"Careful now..." he said, glancing over at the spiritomb, who had fainted instantly after taking a blow from his darmanitan that had sneaked up on the ghost pokemon and knocked it out easily. "You can't use your pokemon now."

Touko stared into his eyes. She was definitely screwed.

* * *

Cynthia appeared inside the base, her eyes wide open and pissed off. "Touya!" she yelled, and immediately the area cleared of its members, revealing Touya, Bianca, Cheren, and Juniper.

"It's nice to see you, Cynthia," Juniper smiled until she noticed the pouting, hungry abra next to her. "Excuse me, but why are you here with Touko's emergency abra?" Juniper asked, slightly worried.

"Is she still mad...?" Bianca whined. "That's not cool, man. She shouldn't have just given the abra away, what if she needed it for later?"

"I don't think that she just simply gave it away," Cheren said anxiously.

Touya shrugged. "It's fine, guys. All she had to was get Cynthia and then come back. She's obviously still mad since this was the easiest mission she had ever been assigned, and-"

SLAP!

Touya stared wide-eyed at Cynthia, who had just back-handed him roughly. A red mark was quickly spreading on his face. "Wh-wha?"

"That was for Touko," Cynthia said. "You're going to be minced into minccino meat."

"Touko only uses that phrase when she's pissed," Bianca squeaked.

"What do you mean?" Touya said, angered. "You didn't have to slap me!"

"I did have to slap you, because you gave her no back-up or anything. Do you know what's happening as we speak, trainer?" Cynthia said amazingly calm as she returned the abra and threw the pokeball back to Touya, who sloppily caught it. Cynthia eyed him along with the rest of the people in the room, who had just gathered after having heard the slap echo across the base.

"She's being chased by N on Reshiram. And if my gut feeling is correct, well, I suppose you all better go set up a rescue mission soon," she said, walking off into the hallway, leaving the members to go berserk with panic and fear.

Touya couldn't believe what he had just heard. Touko was... captured?

He slowly exhaled, turning to his fellow childhoods friends and professor, who were surprised that Touya assigned her a mission (he was the head mission assigner after all) without giving her any back-up or at least even informing them about it before she left. He frowned.

"I was too hot-headed... I didn't think about... Guys, I-" he tried to explain, but they were too disappointed to even look at him.

"Back-up is always necessary. Even if it's Touko herself..." Juniper sighed, leaving to go try and set up the rescue mission as quickly as possible.

"Yeah, she can't do much against a Reshiram! At the very least she would have had a decoy to escape had she had back-up..." Bianca cried, running off after the sullen professor.

Cheren glared at him through his spectacles. "Touya... I think you need to have a break, cool off, and then repent by taking some days off until Touko gets back. I think your feelings are getting in the way a little too much lately. I don't think even now, despite her being gone, is an exception to that."

Touya was silent as the room emptied, the silence slowly breaking him. Cheren was right.

What had he done?

* * *

Mirene: Na na na~ I have testing tomorrow. Boo studying. -3-

I appreciate every vote on my poll for this story (ON MY PROFILE!) and every review is read and taken into consideration! Thank you to all my reviewers of last chapter: Sweettjrose, Queen Rima, Serenading Blossom, Reviewer, Kiraya, Bulla Tulla, BelieverofManyThings, Fabia12, MonochromeSky16, Sapphiet, Shuugo, Guest, and xKanimex. You guys are just way too sweet! Love y'all.


	5. The Limit

Mirene: Like guys. If you love smut, you have to go check out Hachimisu's story called Gem's Adventure, based on Pokemon Black/White 2. O/O it's really good and she's an amazing friend of mine who writes like a boss. Seriously. Get your butt going! D:

As for this, hope you all are ready... :D The story is just beginning, my dears. I don't own Pokemon and I sadly never will. It's a fact of life I can't seem to accept.

Reposted! I posted this chapter up the night before but then I made some changes. Huh? Proofreading? Naw. Enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

There was only one woman that N desired.

Said woman was currently trapped within his chambers. Touko wasn't very cooperative at the moment, but N was sure she would have a change of heart after he was done with her. After all, he had plenty of time, seeing as she wasn't going to be leaving any time soon.

"You jerk! I won't let you get away with this!"

"Touko, please, you're disrupting the peace."

"Peace? You kidnap me and tie me to your bed, we're alone inside this grand ballroom of a bedroom, and you want PEACE?"

"It'd be nice, yes," he sighed, rubbing his temple as he tried to finish some paperwork at his desk. He thought he'd be a little happier having Touko right next to him on his bed, completely defenseless, but all it did was immensely turn him on and increase his risk of going completely deaf in his right ear.

"You egotistical, tyrannical bastard!"

"Touko, I don't want to have to make you quiet down by force," he said, his patience running out as he held up one of his pokeball. "Don't forget, you're defenseless right now. I'm the one in power, not you. So please, just shut the damn fuck up. I'd love to hear you scream this much at night, but now is not the time. I have work." The pokeball glistened in his hand. "If you don't let me finish it..."

Touko hissed, gritting her teeth and forcing herself to calm down. As furious as she felt at the moment, she knew that resistance was futile. Any more and she'd just be getting into unnecessary trouble. For now, she had to gather her strength for tonight to escape, because there is no way in hell that he is ever going to be doing whatever he was really thinking of doing to her whether he was thinking what she was thinking that he was thinking of doing to her or not.

If that even made any sense.

"Good," N smiled at her silence, and for once, he finally understood the meaning "Silence is golden". "I'm glad you understand now. I knew that friends always understood each other, even if you take a little more time than most usually do."

Something about that sentence made Touko snap in her mind. "You're not my fucking friend," Touko couldn't help but spit at the green-haired man. "You're my enemy, got that? You're nowhere near being my friend," she laughed almost hysterically. "I don't befriend..." Touko paused before lowering her head, the memory stinging. "I don't befriend murderers."

N, who was currently in a white dress shirt, a tie, a belt, and black jeans, ignored her for her sake and continued working on his papers. Touko continued to stare at the universe-like ceiling, thinking of how to get out. He had also made the mistake of using the same, weak cuffs that one of his wenches used before, so breaking them should be simple. Her pokeballs were confiscated and left inside his bag in the corner, hanging on the doorknob. There was one large, wall-sized window that seemed easy to break out of as well. When he let his guard down... she would strike. And she would strike damn hard.

"There's no point of escape," he spoke up as if he had read her mind, and Touko flinched at the sound of his sudden, ice-cold voice. "If you were thinking about it, that is. The window is made of expensive, strong, bulletproof and attack-proof glass, so it's literally indestructible unless you have an extremely strong pokemon that can use powerful sound attacks, which I checked that you do not. There are thousands of grunts guarding the outside of this room as well, since it is mine, so you cannot escape that way either. Your cuffs as well - they're impossible to break out of without the key." He propped his chin up on the table as his eyes bore into hers, the said key dangling playfully on the tip of ring finger. "So, you're mine, okay?"

"Oh, okay~" Touko sarcastically sang with fake joy until Touko's face transformed into a dark glare. "What makes you think I can't break your window? What makes you think I can't take on all of your measly grunts? What makes you so sure I can't escape from these cuffs?" She wanted to break out of them now, but now was not the right time to do so unless she wanted to create more obstacles. "You're nothing but a murdering, kidnapping tyrant."

"Maybe so," he said, standing up with the papers. "If it's a tyrant you're looking forward to, I'm not one to let you down," he winked before walking out the door, leaving it wide open enough for the girl to see the several, lined-up grunts along the wall as if they were silver wallpaper. Their clothes and hair cuts were identical, as well as the emotionless expression on their faces. It was eerie to Touko.

"Tch," she growled. She could still remember how she got here, especially when those blue-purple bruises on the top of her thighs keep reminding her about it. He had nearly broken her thigh marrows, and then called his Reshiram over to pick the two of them up. Touko had to bite the inside of her cheek the whole time to keep from lashing out at the currently overpowering king. Her pokemon were confiscated and then she was knocked out by some pokemon's lullaby. When she came to, there she was inside the damn room, hands and legs unmovable.

The room she was in was broad, as enormous as twice the stadiums back in Nimbasa City, and nicely decorated as well, as much as she rather say that this place was a damn cave for an equally cave-like man.

A neat desk with shelves of organized paperwork was in the corner beside the large canopy bed that had a light green curtain draped around it and over Touko, and the ceiling was painted with a galaxy theme. The walls were like a bright forest, and a few pokemon were drawn here and there.

The most peculiar thing was that the pokemon drawn on there had the saddest expressions that Touko had ever seen. Some were wearing bandages, others with casts, and some were just downright on the ground, beaten up, eyes closed. Since Touko knew this was N's room, she was surprised he hadn't gone insane with this kind of environment.

Actually, she took that back - he was insane. 100 percent guaranteed insane, mentally, physically, and whatever other -ally there was.

A few pokedolls laid around randomly, a large Darmanitan plushie right next to her face for one. There was a basketball hoop on the other side of the room, and a few courts for tennis and badminton. Sports supplies were all in a heap inside a basket on the side.

"Spoiled brat," she mumbled, staring longingly at the hoop. "Maybe if I can't get out of here, I can tie a rope and hang myself on that. It'd save me some torture."

"We can't have that happening," N smiled, suddenly back inside the room and creepily next to her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Incredibly pissed."

"Are you hungry or thirsty?"

"Fuck off."

A deep, famished growl emanated from the girl's lower abdomen, and her surfacing blush told N her true answer.

"I think I'll get you some berries."

Touko raised an eyebrow. "Berries? You're going to give me berries? I'm not your fucking pet pokemon," she snarled at the king, who laughed.

"You're the only one who dares to use such language at me," he chuckled, stroking Touko's cheek. She immediately retreated from the foreign touch, her face going to the side. N's hand simply followed until she couldn't turn her neck anymore, rubbing the porcelain skin up and down uncomfortably. "But that's why I love you."

Touko froze. She wasn't sure if she wanted to curse, cry, or plain-out guffaw. She went with the laughter. "HA! You... I didn't think a serious asshole like you could say something like that so casually. If you think that flattering me is going to work, you'd have a better chance sucking your Darmanitan's dick."

N's face hardened. "Touko, I might find your language slightly amusing, but there's a limit to what you can say towards the king," he warned.

"A limit? What do you know about limits?" she barked, struggling against her cuffs, being careful not to break them just yet - though that was proving to get more and more difficult by the second. "You've imprisoned me inside your BEDROOM and CUFFED me to the BED. If that isn't past the limit," she rolled her eyes, "then lord Arceus, I don't know what is!"

"Would you rather be in a dungeon then?"

"Excuse me? I rather be in a burning pit of sludge bombs rather than here with someone like you!" she emphasized "you" with pure disgust.

N stood up, grabbing Touko by the cuffs. He took the chain off the bedpost and flung the brunette to the ground, where her knees and arms scraped against the cold, marble floor. "Look, Touko. I've been going easy on you. If you want to be in the dungeons, all you had to do was say so."

She looked up and then glanced at his cleanly polished shoes. She spat on it.

N's face grew red, and time seemed to pause. Touko knew that right now, she was probably on the edge with this man, and she expected those spit-gleaming shoes to impact her at any moment. Her breath was held as she awaited the pain.

But no pain was felt.

She slowly looked up. As if someone had sucked the anger out of him, he smiled at the brunette, and not in the sweet, cuddly way. "Touko..." he sighed, carrying her up in his arms now. She remained still, analyzing his face and movements. "Touko, I'm sorry."

Her face paled. "S-sorry? For what?" From what she's learned about the king, the king does not say sorry. It just doesn't go that way. And the few times she had seen him apologize for something in public, he had-

"Sorry for having to do this."

He had apologized for something disastrous in advance.

He threw her onto the bed with brute force, her head hitting the wall on impact. The throbbing in her temple wanted to burst out of her as the king began straddling her body between his legs.

"Oh no, not this again," she exclaimed, breaking the cuffs and immediately fighting the man off. N, surprised at her abrupt display of strength, instantly pressed his hands on her bruises.

"Ah!" she screamed, the pain from her thighs shooting up her body and caused her to shudder as she closed her eyes. When she tried to move again, N simply touched her thighs and then she was inside that burning pit of sludge bombs she had mentioned earlier.

"Now you should cooperate," N smirked as he took off his tie and used it to bind Touko's wrists together and to the center post. "And remember what I mentioned earlier about not wanting to let you down?"

Touko blinked her surging tears back. She would not cry. She would absolutely not cry. She wouldn't, but the sentence he had said earlier continued to hauntingly echo in her mind as his face lowered onto hers.

He... he was going to rape her.

"No!" she yelled, shifting around as much as she could to avoid his touches. N, frustrated, used his knees to hold her thighs back in place, his weight falling onto her injuries. When placed under pressure, even the strongest glass will shatter, even Touko, and those shattered pieces will fall into place the way he wants them to.

Because the king always gets what he wants.

Tears fell like a waterfall upon Touko's cheeks as N's face hovered over hers. "Touko... you'd best get this inside your head now, now and forever. You're mine."

Just as his lips were about to mesh with hers, the door slammed open to reveal Concordia and Anthea. "Your highness, the Sages request to meet with you right now for an emergency meeting."

N sighed as he let go of Touko, reluctantly standing up. He gave the traumatized brunette one last glimpse before following the goddesses out of the room. She could hear the distinct lock of the door sounding off after it had closed. After the footsteps faded away, she planned to escape now.

Touko moved her hands and tried to break the tie, or at least even loosen it a bit, but was frustrated to find out that she can break metal, but she can't seem to overpower leavanny silk. Arceus, place judgement on the Earth now. NOW.

As the girl tried to think of a different way to get out of her situation, the door slightly creaked open, revealing a man with unmistakable silver hair, his eyes more golden than the lamplight on the nightstand near Touko. He stepped in silently, the door shut behind him with, again, the distinct sound of a lock.

"Hello there, Touko," he smiled. "It's been a while."

Touko bit the inside of her cheek. She did not want to see this man. She did not like him, though she may have associated with him before in the past. He stared at her, his eyes telling her that he expected an answer. Touko couldn't afford to be put into a worse situation than the one at hand, so she would have to choose her words carefully if she ever wanted to get out of here.

The bound woman smirked. Maybe she could use the past to use him to her advantage. There, now that was a golden idea. He began walking over to her, his clearly pale face closing in on hers as he whisked a stray hair from her face. "You are Touko, yes?"

"Hmm, indeed." She gave him a weak smile. "Long time no see, Ilysium."

* * *

Touya laid on his disorderly bed, face pressed into his tear-stained pillow, neck-deep in thought. Shit, he knew everything was his fault. He knew that his feelings for Touko had been getting in the way recently. He knew that he shouldn't have sent her out that night, he knew.

But damn, damn it all. That's what he had done, and Cheren wouldn't even give him the chance to make things right, to be able to fix his own mistakes. But he also knew that if he were in Cheren's position, he wouldn't let himself do anything either until he was calmer.

But still, how could he just lay here while the girl he loved was in possible danger all because of him? How could he not be able to do a thing about it? He was so incredibly furious at himself.

Angered by seemingly anything and everything, he stood up, hands and arms intching, and threw all the pillows he had in the room against the walls, against the doors, even out the window that he had left open.

Touya stared longingly at the dark outside, half-hoping that Touko would suddenly appear, her head sticking through the crack of his window, apologizing for having made everyone, especially him, worried about her absence. He stared and stared, but he knew in his heart that that would just be too good to be true.

Knocks came from his door, at first a soft few, and then a few moments later a vigorous thousand punches wanted to send the door flying off its hinges. Touya reluctantly went over and opened the door, revealing the professor in all of her glory.

"Touya."

Touya turned around, muttering a half-hearted "come in" as he let himself sit on the bed. Juniper allowed herself inside, standing in front of the rather depressed man. She had definitely seen him in better days.

"Today, several of our rebels came back harshly injured on the search for Touko. They were trying to locate her and stumbled near the kingdom by accident, and when the grunts took notice of them and that they were searching for her, it was as if they had an alarm that reacted to her name and a huge pokemon battle unleashed, leaving our men without victory nor luck since that was completely unexpected."

"But... what could that possibly mean?"

"It means," Juniper sighed, "that the Plasma Kingdom is definitely onto us now. Though we may have had conflicts in the past, none have been as serious as this. A war is going to ensue, and we need numbers. To make matters even worse, it seems that they've targeted Touko."

"No... No way," Touya burrowed his hands into his head. "This is all my fault! If only my mind was clear... if only that hadn't happened! If only that hadn't happened and if only I had control over my feelings for Touko... this wouldn't have had to happen to her-"

Juniper, concerned over his latest statement, placed a hand on Touya's trembling knee. "Touya... is there something you need to tell me?"

Touya's back straightened. "You already know that I love Touko."

"Yes, I do. Is there anything else besides that you love Touko that may have been hindering your work, Touya? Something that may have happened?" His nervous reaction was instant as Juniper awaited his answer. "It's better if you talk about it."

Touya hesitated for a moment, but only a moment, before shaking his head. "It's nothing. It's just the past... that's all." Unconvinced, Juniper stood up and impatiently tapped her foot on the floor. There was definitely something that Touya was hiding from her, and possibly from everyone else as well. She had known all along that Touya had been acting strange, and she just couldn't believe that it was all just because he loved Touko. Now, she had some proof that there may have been another reason.

Before she could question the brunet, who seemed rather tense now, the door slammed open again to reveal a disheveled Cheren, slick with nervous perspiration from having ran all the way to Touya's room. Inside the base, Touya's room was the farthest from the center area. "J-Juniper, Touya."

"Cheren?" Juniper asked, worried.

"It's breaking news. A few spy rebels had received news from the grunts. We've located Touko."

"Where is she?" Touya burst.

Cheren adjusted his glasses uneasily. "She's been taken prisoner at the kingdom's castle under N. But that's not all. That's not even the worse part." He glared at Touya, blaming him for everything inside of his mind before throwing a mad punch into the wall, breaking a hole and revealing electrical outlet wires on the inside.

The anger Cheren displayed, which was completely out of character for the usually composed man, left Touya and Juniper unsettled as the spectacled rebel heaved a deep sigh, continuing.

"Sage Ghetsis has announced that for her crimes of interacting with Pokemon and to set an example for the rest of the Unova region... she is going to be publicly executed in Opelucid City in one month." Juniper gasped and Touya's eyes went wide.

"We need to rescue her immediately."

"Understood," Juniper spoke before rushing out the of the room, leaving Cheren with Touya. Cheren walked up to Touya, pointing at his face with his index finger.

"I will never, ever, forgive you. You've passed the limit, and I've passed through mine with you."

And with that, Cheren left Touya alone in the room.

* * *

Mirene: Bet you didn't see that one coming! (: Gosh, I'm putting a lot of pressure on Touya, aren't I? Tee hee. :p

Pre-wrote 2/3rds of this chapter, finished 1/3 today in the afternoon, lost the 1/3, got pissed off, neglected the document, then finished it back up again today at like midnight and neglecting homework. LOL! Life of a frustrated writer. I just hate it when my laptop does that to me before I get to save everything I wrote. -_- And I hate homework. Especially history.

Please vote for this story for your choice of being updated monthly on my profile and every review is read and taken into consideration! Thank you to all my reviewers of last chapter: Dragonfire81, Serenading Blossom, Queen Rima, Shuugo, Sapphiet, BelieverofManyThings, ikutolover182, Teardrop Dreamer, Clouds of Mist, Bulla Tulla, Fabia13, D, SORA, ThatOnePerson, Pokemonaholic, Nekoz Rule, Guest, and Confused. Thank you all so much, really. I love you all from the bottom of my writer's heart!


	6. It Must Hurt

Mirene: Hi so it's been much too long. I'm so sorry for the long wait! I hope this chapter is as you sees fit to be worth the wait xD Also, some readers have pointed out NOT to use capitalized letters but to use ITALICS. Well... okay, sure why not? If I remember, that is. You might see capitalization once in a while, but using italics will be fine! Anyways, enjoy the chapter and I don't own Pokemon!

* * *

Chapter 5

* * *

Ilysium was silent as he stood beside the bonded woman, a smile slowly coming onto his lips. "Long time no see."

Touko sighed. "I never would have thought we would have reunited like this."

"Indeed."

"You're taller and more handsome now. That silver hair is blinding me."

A chuckle was her given reply, so she pressed on. "So, how have you been doing since the last time we saw each other? Didn't think you would end up with my long-term enemy." She tried to think of something that would make him come to her side. "You know what he did to my mother, correct?"

His face darkened somehow despite his utterly pale complexion and pushed his bangs over his head with his hand. "I, erm... have been serving our king-"

"_Your_ king."

"My king," he corrected himself for Touko's sake, "For some time now. He took me at my, erm, worse. My worse being what you may be assuming correctly." Touko felt the sting of guilt from that. "I couldn't sleep when you left me, nor did I eat, and I was fired from my job... My house burned down when... When my tepig was practicing his ember. My whole family was killed, pokemon included."

Touko was speechless. What could she say? "Ilysium, I... I didn't know." He shook his head and turned around, continuing from there in his melancholic tone, pain dancing around his mind in the form of memories.

"But, N... he saw what happened as he was passing by. Me, desperately trying to water the fire down with a single bucket. He took me in. And that was that." His face quickly transformed into his usual expression, a casual smile planted on it. "But now he has taken you in, and I get to see you again. You, who has essentially ruined my life."

"Ilysium, I-"

"It's been so long since you've called me by my name. Though it's not the same anymore, is it." She couldn't say anything back for a short moment.

"Let me up so we can have a proper talk, Ily-"

"No. I don't care for you anymore." His facial expression showed obviously deep pain as those words hit Touko through the heart. "I serve N."

"Ilysium, please... you know that it wasn't because I didn't love you anymore. It was because-"

His hand harshly covered her mouth, his body too close to hers, his face inches away. "I know. It was because of your mother... and so when she died, I was secretly _ec-stat-ic_." Touko's eyes widened to his pleasure. "I knew how your mother talked about me. I knew everything, I knew it wasn't just because of traveling that you left."

Touko did _not_ expect this turn of events. He was supposed to still love her, untie her, and confess his remaining love to her. She was supposed to say yes, and they were both supposed to escape and then she would somehow get rid of him later on. Yes, she loved him in the past, but not anymore. She refused to love anyone anymore. Much less a man who just said he was happy to see her mother die.

"How can you say that? You bastard! How dare you say that about my mother!" Emotions rippled through her body as if it were water, tears appearing around the rims of her eyes, glaring at the heartless man she used to know as he dabbed a tissue at the corner of her eyes. "He's changed you, hasn't he? That fucking N!"

"Don't cry your tears. Save them." Ilysium played an amused look. "You have much to cry about for your future. My king is special in that way."

"Fuck your fucking king."

The door slowly opened and two lovely ladies peeped into the room, blushing before the handsome assistant of their king. "Ilysium, I didn't know you were visiting... _her_," Concordia spoke with scorn, although his single name had been touched with love. "Is there anything you needed?"

"None. I wanted to take a look at his majesty's new toy. It shouldn't be long before she gets old though, what with him and all."

"How true," Anthea smiled with glee that yet another had taken hatred to the shameful brunette on the bed. "Are you leaving now? Our lord wants _her_ clean and tended." Touko didn't allow herself to grimace at the way they spoke of her. It would be unbecoming if she did, and they are already mocking her in front of her face as a mere toy. That N...

"Of course. I'll take my leave now," Ilysium said with short breath before following his word.

"I hope you leave and never come ba-"

Touko didn't get to finish before Concordia had coldly ripped her clothing off of her, discarding the rags in a nearby bin. "Wouldn't want anyone else to mistakenly take your clothing and touch it. We don't have the finances to pure everyone who goes through with you." Wasteful bitch. Touko sighed and let them do their work since she knew that they wouldn't dare hurt a hair on her body.

She just wished the Ilysium from the past would come back. Back, and be the best friend that she'd always needed. That was all he was to her in the past, and all he could be now.

* * *

Cold air ventilation hit his skin and sent goosebumps crawling over his pale palette of skin.

While Ilysium took small steps down the narrow corridor within the bedchamber section, he sighed. Love was tearing his heart into more that he could bear. A woman that he loved, only to be with a man that he respected. He loved her, he wanted to save her, and he knew that Touko wanted him to take her away from here, but how could he do that to the man to which he owed his very existence to? The answer was that he couldn't.

"Touko... I never meant it all." The death of her mother, though her menacing thoughts about him still lingered in his scars, did not make him feel ecstatic. He felt almost as pained as Touko had. He felt the flames lick his heart as they swallowed her whole, as if she was his own mother.

It was because he loved Touko so much, even after all this time. He could never have her leave his mind, and even though most of what he had said had been his thoughts at times, she was still his beloved. Her beloveds were his beloveds. Even if she had been playing an act to his face since he was a child, not all of that loving warmth he had received was fake. However, Reshiram's flames were so powerful that not even his king could do anything, much less himself.

"I still yearn for you... but I no longer have the right to," he whispered to his silent, falling tears, agony slowly sliding down his face.

* * *

Touko had been very, very wrong about them not hurting a single hair on her body. In fact, they had literally - _literally_ - hurt every single hair on her body instead. Her entire body was red as her blood once they were through, and they were not gentle. Apparently, N had wanted her hairless as a meaning of "pure". Fuck pure! That sure as hell was not honey they used to wax her lady part.

Irritated, stinging, and ready to murder was the state she was left in as the two goddesses cackled on their way out to dispose of the trash. Wretches.

Still tied to the bedposts, she didn't have much to do anymore besides pray to the lord Arceus that she would be saved soon and she could crush this good-for-nothing kingdom once and for all. She wished to avenge her mother and all pokemon trainers by beheading all who served the Plasma Kingdom. All who sided with the side that burned her mother for good.

She'd burn them. The image of her fantasy, devilish fire danced in front of her, threatening to burn down and devour this room, this kingdom, and this disgusting way of life with it.

Touko closed her eyes to breath her rage in and out, allowing herself to become calmer and calmer as each inhale became an exhale.

Yes, she admitted that she had become bitter as time passed after her most precious person's death. She had created herself into some twisted leader that thirsted more for revenge than for the good of the APO, but it was difficult not to let the devil inside her take over when it came down to the rawness of it.

Her thinking had been broken by the sound of feet shuffling into the room, the patter of a certain man's shoes coming closer to the bed. Slowly yet barely lifting her right eye to peek out at him, she surprisingly found N with an expression unheard of.

It was shockingly... docile. His expression, that is. His eyes were filled with that of sympathetic emotion. She didn't like it one bit. Nor did she trust that those seeming emotions were real.

"What are you looking at-"

"It must hurt," he whispered sadly, lips curling into a short frown.

"What?"

"You poor thing," N lowered his voice even more as his arms wrapped around her body which was only covered with a cloth that resembled something slightly better than a hospital gown. "You poor, poor thing. What happened? Were the goddesses too harsh?"

"What happened?" Touko wanted to go ballistic. How dare he mock her like this? How? "_What happened_?" She was about to scream some more when she felt something moist dampen the cloth by her shoulder, where N's head rested. Touko was confused. Very confused. "Hey. Hey. What-"

N rose, eyes red and cheeks lightly moist with wiped tears, courtesy of her shoulder. "I will go get some salve for your skin. It must hurt. It must hurt a lot." He then ran over towards his desk, fishing out a large jar with the fat image of a blissey on the lid. "This salve has blissey eggs in it. It's much better than a chansey's." With that statement, he began softly rubbing the salve onto her legs. Rendered speechless at this transformation of N, she only watched as the scarlet color of her skin slowly returned to its natural ivory color with every careful, massaging stroke of his hands. As much as she wanted to refuse it, the feeling was heavenly. When her arms and legs were through, he undid her bonds and handed her the medicine. "You should do the rest yourself," he said idly with a blush.

"You're not afraid I will escape? Or kill you right now?" she pressed, even though she knew she shouldn't be.

"I know that it must hurt." Pain was evident in his irises. "I know. I know. I know," he mumbled as he started for the door before suddenly halting, leaving Touko waiting for his timid voice. However, upon turning around, a sharp, more original N-like expression was adorning his face. The cold, ice-like voice was back.

"But try to escape and you will be punished. Stay there and you don't need to be bound. Do wrong and be hurt more if you wish," he spat before slamming the door. From behind, she heard him say, "You're mine. Forever. Don't forget it."

First he was somewhat kind, and then he suddenly does a complete 180 and becomes a possessive psycho again. She didn't know which one he would be when he came back in through the door, but if she followed his orders, then perhaps he might continue being that kind version of N, fake or not, it didn't matter. She didn't need dignity at the moment, not when her body was screaming at her.

Salve was applied over her breasts, her bare abdomen, her lower back, and her smooth bottom. She had trouble reaching the top part of her back, but not wanting to call N in, she somehow persevered and managed to do it.

Closing the bright pink and white lid back on the salve container, she gently placed it on his desk before taking a soft seat on the ground, not daring to touch the bed anymore, afraid to fall asleep and leave herself vulnerable yet again. But soon, her weak self felt like leaning her back against the bedpost. In only a few moments where her wrists and legs were at ease, slumber took her mind to a saner place.

As N watched through the small crack in the door at his sleeping Touko, two smiles were smiled. Watching her sleep more soundly and naturally like this was a sweet treasure. He opened the door slowly and walked inside, placing himself next to her on the floor. Accidentally bumping into her while sitting down, she shifted slightly and her head fell upon his shoulder, to his appeasement.

A kinder version of himself said, "Sweet dreams..."

The other muttered softly. "Good girl."

* * *

"Cheren."

"Yes, Bianca?"

"News... Terrible news," she squeaked. "Touya... he-"

"Don't talk about him. I don't want to hear," Cheren growled as he shredded documents into a shredder, imagining that it was Touya, Plasma, and everything else that he hated going down and being cut into thin strands of uselessness.

"It's because you're like this that this happened!" she yelled in an abnormally loud voice, causing the spectacled man to jolt and drop a couple of papers. When Bianca bent down to pick them up, her eyes widened intensely. "Th-these are... They're Touya's love letters."

"These distracted him, and they've distracted Touko. We don't need any of it."

"You mean she... she kept them?" she gasped. "She actually kept them?"

Cheren didn't bother answering and only scowled, knowing that Bianca had already realized that what she had just said was correct. "This makes such a huge difference!"

"Why? Touko had kept my letters as well," he sneered to the blonde, who wasn't fazed by his words.

"But she kept Touya's! This might bring him back!"

"What? Bring him back? What are you spouting now?" Cheren asked, confused as he forcefully took the papers back and continued shredding them before reluctantly shredding his own as well as others. "Just let me shred these letters for Touko. When she comes back, she'll feel more refreshed looking at her desk. I can't bear to see this thrown into a disgusting, crumpled-up pile inside her unwanted bin and let others find it and read it."

"I understand Cheren, but I really must inform you of something." Her eyes pleaded with him to give her some time to talk. Cheren sighed with a short nod, the last letter falling to bits in the pile of affection on paper. "It's just that-"

Before little Bianca could continue, a lower minion within the APO, particularly one within Touya's units, ran into the room. He spotted Cheren, ignored Bianca, and sank to his knees in front of his superior. "Cheren, sir, please allow Touya to come back! Please let us find him!"

"What?"

"If you didn't already know, sir, Touya has turned in a resignation letter overnight and had clearly stated within the note that he would not return until he finds Touko and rescues her from the Plasma Kingdom, returning her safely to the APO. He cannot do this by himself, sir! Take him back and make him reconsider his plans!" The younger subordinate obviously cared greatly for Touya. He was one of the most well-liked people here, Cheren not being nearly as popular.

"He's left the APO? What if he is only using this as a disguise for ulterior motives? He knows the consequences of leaving the APO, and he knows what should happen when he leaves without notice. Touya will be branded as a traitor-"

"No."

"No?" Cheren demanded before turning around to find Juniper standing there, a grip on his shoulder.

"Let Touya do this for himself. It's the only way he feels that he can atone. Let him find his way."

"But what if-"

"We all trust Touya. Cheren, didn't you used to trust Touya as well, before you two became petty love rivals?" Bianca and Juniper almost giggled despite the serious tension in the room. Their love rivalry with Touko was unknown to her, but was a living sitcom to the rest of the organization. "You two were best friends. You know that he wouldn't do that."

"He could get brainwashed, or-"

"Touya is strong, Cheren." Juniper let her hand down. "He is dependable."

Cheren knew he was losing in this argument. It was three - Juniper, Bianca, and the minion - to one, himself. No, he was not losing (he would never admit to losing), he just agreed with Juniper. He did know that Touya was strong and dependable. Just this time, he was a bit hot-headed and aggravating and-

"Cheren?" Juniper asked, worried about his reddening face. Cheren coughed before adjusting his glasses, nodding.

"Tell him, somehow, that he has one month. Before Touko dies. If he cannot before then, and is caught by us... he will be forever be an outcast to our community. Agreed?"

The three seemed content with his decision. Their thoughts synchronized harmoniously with similar, victorious smiles, knowing that getting Cheren to agree was certainly a feat to be recognized. They were all also confident that he would get Touko back, because that would be just like Touya to do that.

Just like Touya, the three thought.

"Agreed!"

* * *

Mirene: I hope that was somehow worth it, hehe! So what do you think? I will be updating more often, so please leave a review to encourage me to update even faster, especially since Summer is finally out and in the open with freedom galore! School is over and I am ecstatic, not to mention ready for some ToukoxN action for once, which should come up in the next chapter... (; Anyways, please review because I love hearing your thoughts because they are most of the time sweet and inspiring.

Special thanks to last chapter's reviewers: BelieverofManyThings, Queen Rima, Teardrop Dreamer, Serenading Blossom, Sapphiet, Strawberry Bells, SORA, Infusion Masters Nightmare, ferriswheelgirl, Fabia4ever, Sweettjrose, Nekoz Rule, pokelover, Shuugo, fanficsareawesome, Guest, HitsuHinalover, Garnet Hime, Avid Elf Ashley, ikutolover182, and preciousjewel101. YOU ARE ALL AMAZING AND I LOVE YOU GUYS! :3


	7. Bitter Taste

Mirene: It's been a deadly long time, I understand. But what I'm still smiling like a stupid idiot on my stool right now because of all the amazing reviews and fans I've received over the time span since the last chapter. I wanted to update quickly so badly but I never found the time just when I felt inspired to write for this (which tbh was every time I got an email alerting me that someone had taken the time to write a sweet review). But now I'm here! (: And I hope you'll enjoy this. I don't own Pokemon!

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Chapter 6  


* * *

Touya was sitting on a rock by the beach, a thick suitcase beside him, staring at the cold, crashing waves. He should have seriously thought things out before we went and left, didn't he. But what other choice did the brunette have? Had he stayed any longer, Cheren would have surely killed him in his sleep or something.

He had about less than a one month. Less than one month to travel to the Plasma kingdom, less than one month to impossibly infiltrate the castle, less than one month to find Touko and safely rescue her from her future execution. Less than one month! Under all this pressure, he might just crack.

"God, Touko, I'm so sorry..." he whispered to the cool breeze, his only friend. It had been three days since he had left the organization. Three days and he was already tempted to go back - but he was sure that Cheren had already branded him as a traitor. No doubt they're coming to get his head. The only choice he had now was to fulfill his mission and atone for what he had done.

Standing up with a stronger resolve, he began pulling his suitcase and walking toward the nearest pokemart. If he was going to do this, he might as well be as prepared as possible. Upon entering the store, he stacked up on food and drinks, a first aid kit, most of the necessities a person could think of. Turning around to look for pokeballs, he remembered that this store wasn't a part of their base and frowned. If he ran into any good pokemon, he wouldn't be able to get any. He should have stocked up _before_ he left. But as always, he didn't really think about it.

Paying for his items at the register, he noticed the worker suddenly tense up. Turning around, he saw three grunts walk into the chip aisles, barking about what to get. Realizing why the person became so rigid, he leaned into the woman's ears and whispered. "May I purchase some pokeballs?" Her eyes widened until he discreetly pulled out his APO badge. With a relieved sigh, the girl nodded and gestured for him to wait on the side. He did.

"Ah man, I'm so tired. The king has worked all of us day and night without stop," the first grunt mumbled in a grouchy manner, holding a few XL bags of cheesy pika puffs in his arms. "To track down that stupid criminal organization. Damn, if that APO didn't exist, we wouldn't have to be living off cheap chips in the middle of the night trying to search for them. Don't even have the time to stop for a decent meal." The evident rumbles of all their stomachs proved his complaint to be true.

The second grunt thought carefully as she pulled out a few bottles of water from the fridges. "I bet it's because of that APO leader they caught a while ago. It's only been about a week and yet look at all the controversies she's stirred up. Her capture leads to her execution, which leads to us destroying the APO so that the execution can be cancelled. N is head over heels for that bitch." Touya accidentally growled at the crude term used to refer to his crush.

"Oh?" the third grunt noticed Touya. "What's up? Got a crush on the APO leader too?" All three of them cackled. "Not that a crappy outsider like you would even know what we're talking about. Ah, go pay for the food, Miru."

"I forgot my money," the second grunt giggled cunningly, smiling poisonously at the poor cashier lady. "You don't mind, do you sweetie? We do work hard to protect you from dangerous pokemon after all."

'As if the taxes didn't pay you all enough already,' Touya thought angrily as the cashier nodded softly. The grunts soon left after grabbing a few other things they needed and within five minutes, they had all driven off on their motorcycles. Stepping forward, he took his wallet out and gave the girl some money. "I'm paying for them."

The shy girl blushed and shook her head, placing her hands out in front of her to reject the offer. "Pl-please don't bother. I-It's alright. If I don't give them trouble, they won't give me trouble. The same goes for you as well, right?" She lifted her head to smile, pulling out her identification card, revealing herself as an APO member. "Mister trainer."

"Thank goodness you're part of us. I would've stepped in to help, but I can't afford to attract too much attention just yet."

The cashier nodded in understanding eagerly. "Are you going to go on a mission? Please, let me offer you these supplies for free," she scrambled to take his things to bag it, but instead got money shoved into her hands.

"I can't do that, because I'm not going on this mission as a member for the APO," he lightly smiled, a sliver of sadness in his expression. "I'm going out for personal reasons." The girl said no more and accepted the cash. "May I get three pokeballs?"

"But you paid enough for ten-"

"Three is enough. Keep the change." The girl nodded, knowing he simply wanted to pay for the rude grunts from earlier, and ran to the back. She returned with three ultra balls in her hands and gave them to the male trainer. "Thank you... Erm..." He waited and the girl finally caught onto what he was getting, flustering in the process.

"Ah! S-sorry, m-my name is Y-Yuna, nice to m-meet you... s-sir." She added the sir because of the high rank she noticed on his member card. "You?"

"Touya." He smiled at her before checking his watch, his mood falling. "It's getting late. I should go." He tipped his hat to her still red pinkette, who was now nervously straightening the wrinkles on her magenta summer dress. "Thank you, Yuna," he said before leaving.

"Have a safe trip," she called out, waving her hand. After he left her sight, Yuna rubbed her hand at the place where Touya had touched while giving her the money. "It's warm," she whispered softly to herself before getting ready to close down the shop.

* * *

Touko sighed, tired and honestly, a tad bit confused.

It had been almost a week since she had last seen N, and the last time she did, he was utterly confusing. First he was nice, then he was possessive. Which one was he really? She had been contemplating this for the past few days and had come up with only one reasonable theory. The only way to explain it would be that one was a facade, and the other was real. He was trying to trick her into something... but what? And why? She already knew his mean side, and now his nice facade comes out? Or is it the opposite?

Then again, why should she care? She would be escaping as soon as possible anyways. No, or maybe this could be a weakness she could use. To save her pride, she should at least return to the base with _some_ kind of information. Right? Of course it's only right.

During the past week, she would always be searching for a way out. But without the help of her pokemon and the infinite number of grunts always out there to stop her from leaving, it was close to completely impossible. The circumstances looked as though she would be staying here permanently. The only upside was that there had been no sign of N so far. She only ran into grunts and those two loathsome goddesses every so often. Not even Ilysium came back a second time.

Plus, it was dreadfully boring. Sometimes she would try to goad the grunts into playing sports with her, but they were completely deaf and still. The only reaction she had gotten from them so far when she wasn't trying to escape was seeing their veins pop on their forehead. Shooting hoops would only keep her interested for so long. Around the second day or so, she had even thrown a pathetic tantrum just to see what happened. She was bound for the entire day with tape over her mouth, plus a very degrading lecture from Anthea. So she just decided to stay calm until she could leave safely.

It had been only one week... And yet it felt like years had passed already.

"I hate this stupid kingdom. I hate their king." Her arms crossed around her legs, which she had pulled in towards herself. The ball rolled away, only stopping after it had hit the wall. Burying her face into her knees, she shed a tear. "I just want my mother back... Mom..."

That was when the door abruptly opened and slammed into the wall, startling the brunette. Touko quickly wiped away her tears and patted the air out of her light, silk gown, raking her fingers through her hair to get rid of the unseemly tangles. Footsteps came from the far side of the room, swiftly coming towards her. The brunette flipped around to come face to face with a weary-looking N, who plopped down right next to the confused girl. Her eyebrows furrowed as she slowly tried to scoot away from the man when he suddenly spun on the floor and laid his head right on her lap, his cap covering his face. What's more, the man was actually grinning.

Grinning.

She didn't know what to think.

So she didn't.

"Get the fuck off of me!" she yelled, picking up his head with the tips of her fingers like it was garbage and threw it onto the hard ground, scrambling up and slowly backing away before realizing what exactly she just did. It felt nice to know that she scored one on him, but she was practically defenseless at the moment. Just a few days she had almost gotten raped by this man, who's to say that he won't finish what he started? Her body shivered in disgust at the thought and prepared itself for the worst.

But to her surprise, the green-haired man laid there like a statue. The only thing that stopped him from seeming dead was the light chuckle that escaped his mouth when his lips parted. He threw his arm over his hat above his forehead. "They told me you were more obedient now... I can see that was an exaggeration."

'Not exactly,' she thought. It wasn't fair though, how could her strength be put up against double-in-size pokemon in numerous numbers? If it wasn't for her compassion for pokemon and total disadvantage, she would have been gone by now, much less obedient. Since she had been thinking of ways to escape, just being obedient until the chance arose was the best choice. However, she may just have screwed up a week's worth.

"Tell me, Touko... Is this not enough for you?" She didn't really catch on to what he was trying to get at, and so a moment of silence passed between them before he tried to clarify. "This... All this. When will you finally give in and be mine? If you're willing, then all the troubles will be solved," he said with a tiresome sigh.

Her eyes squinted in disbelief. "Give in? I will never give in," Touko spat in contempt, though admittedly from the other side of the room. "You think you just keep me locked up for a week and expect me to give in?" Biting her lip in order not to curse, she clenched her fists at her side tightly. "I'm the leader of the APO."

"I know that," the king drawled from his area, putting his cap back on and slowly getting up. He winced before rubbing the back of his head for a second, staring at the girl he had wanted for so long. "We all know that. But can't you forget your position? For me?"

"For you?" she said through gritted teeth without a shred of sympathy. "What exactly do I get in return then?"

"Your life."

Touko was almost taken back when he said that.

Almost.

Except she already knew that dying was a possibility. Now she only wished that she had updated her will - it hadn't been touched since a year before her mother died, and well, almost everything went to someone that was now deceased. She always thought that she would die before her mom ever since that time... "My life isn't as valuable as you think it is."

"In three weeks' time, you're going to be publicly executed. No one will join your small group of pokemon slave workers anymore. The APO will surely die when they see your death. Everyone you ever loved will crumble and once they let down their guard even just a bit, Plasma will crush them... And no one will be left alive." Touko had to bite her tongue to keep from barking back her opinion. To be honest, though she didn't care much about her death in particular since there was no way she could die just yet, she was curious about her so-called execution. "However... I've managed to get in an alternative with the royal sages. It will have the same result - only you won't be dead."

Touko knew there was going to be a catch to this. A big one. "And that alternative would be something worse than death, I presume?"

"Quite the opposite," he smiled, walking forward. Unfortunately for Touko, N had already instructed the grunts outside to close and lock the door from outside before he walked into the room. "You'll be alive, and well, and..."

"And?" she questioned, but to her mistake. Within the next second, the secretly athletic man flew towards her and before she could even react to his strange quickness, he had held her arms in place by wrapping his arms around her body and delved into her sweet, luscious lips. His tongue forcefully entered her mouth after he had bit her bottom lip so she would open her mouth to him, and suddenly something bitter flooded her mouth.

His massive strength held her in place despite her thrashing, which only made her fall backward while he was still dominantly on top of her, tongue forcing the strange liquid down her throat. That was when she felt the solid capsule also get pushed down, and her mind had concluded that she was being drugged. 'Shit!' Her thoughts were getting blurrier and blurrier, and her vision was becoming thoughtless... No, it was the other way around. She didn't know anymore. The bitter taste was gone and all she could taste now was N, his mint-flavored tongue roaming her mouth still.

"If you bear my child, and bear a male heir... You can live, Touko."

The dark embraced her and she embraced it back.

* * *

Biance smiled happily, staring at the screen where the little red beeper was traveling towards , a little red beeper also known as Touya. At first, he had stayed almost forever at Undella Town, and the blonde wondered if he would ever get a move on or if he needed some help. She didn't recall anyone being a member there, so there was no way to contact him unless she ordered someone out to get him. The only way to do that, however, is to get Cheren's approval, and that would be impossible.

It was a good thing she had sneaked a tracking device chips on him without him knowing by super gluing three of them onto his shoe, hat, and suitcase. Otherwise everyone but Cheren would be worrying with worry-filled stress. Although the girl knew Cheren also secretly worried about the careless male.

Now, she could see Touya travel up the map, getting closer to N's castle, even if it was just a little bit. The next town he would hit would be Lacunosa Town.

"Bianca," Cynthia suddenly appeared through the doorway, stepping in with all her clothes and such. "I'm leaving in an hour since I've already given most of my contact and research information to Juniper. She needs to get something to Touya too, so I was just wondering where the brat is right now." Her eyes quickly scanned the wall-sized monitor. "Ah, by the time I go, he'll be halfway to Lacunosa. Alright, is there anything you'd like to give to him as well?"

Bianca quickly stood up and ran towards the far side of the room, opening a desk and pulling out a box that looked rather heavy in her hands. She handed it to the Sinnoh champion, smiling. "Can you give this to him then? It's top-secret, but very important."

"I understand. Goodbye, Bianca."

"Thank you, Cynthia. Stay safe."

She smirked, snapping her fingers. Within seconds, the spiritomb had appeared beside her, bobbing up and down. "Looks like you managed to get away easily, little one. I assume Touko is safe?" Bianca didn't know how the long-haired blonde could understand the ghost pokemon, but she guessed that it was just their strong bond. The violet creature shook left and right, indicating a no. "But she's alive. I understand, if you stayed too long you may have never gotten out of there, right? We'll have to leave it up to Touko to get Garchomp back."

"Ah, Touya is father up the route again. Please hurry, Cynthia."

Cynthia nodded, giving a mock salute. "So long, Bianca." And the woman disappeared behind the doors.

Bianca sighed as she slumped into her chair, wondering if her little gift will be useful to Touya or not. It would be if only he knew how to use it before, but now he'll simply have to learn how on his own.

* * *

Ilysium was sitting inside a room, a large, dark room with a cup of crimson red tea sitting cold in front of him. He had sipped it only once, and it had already left an everlasting bitter taste in his mouth that was almost unbearable.

"Drink, Ilysium."

"Oh, yes... Of course, sir," the silver-haired man said politely, taking the cup into his hands but not daring to sip the acrid liquid. "May I ask why you've called me, sir?"

The pause before the other spoke lasted about a minute. "Do you remember when N first took you in, Ilysium? Do you remember what I told you on the first day?"

"I must always pledge loyalty to Plasma, sir."

"Good," the other man chuckled, causing the younger one to feel anxious about why the former king had called him to his presence. It was rare to ever even see him nowadays, let alone actually sit down with him to have a cup of _tea_. "Actually, there's something I've been wanting to know. I want you to do it for me. A mission, you might call it. I do hope you'll accept..."

Sensing the eerieness in his voice, Ilysium had no doubt that if he said something wrong by mistake, his head would be on one side of a guillotine, and his body on the other. "I will always place Plasma first," he said after a quick few seconds to choose his words carefully. This sentence seemed to please the one who beckoned him.

"It has something to do with that new toy N has taken a liking to..."

"T-Touko?"

"Yes, that's her name: Touko. I want you to get her out of that prison of a room... And I want you to bring her to my floor in three days, exactly at midnight. I will be waiting by the elevators to pick her up for no more than five minutes. Clear enough?"

Though he didn't have any idea as to why this man wanted Touko, he would simply have to agree for now and perhaps consult N about it later in secret. After all, though he may have said that he pledged his loyalty to Plasma, the only person he only felt loyal to was N. For now, Ilysium would just have to accept the assignment.

"I understand. Thank you for allowing me to be in your presence tonight, but now I must take my leave. I will do my best to complete the task you have placed upon me, Sage Ghetsis." He stood up and bowed, lowering his head.

"It'd be best if you met my expectations," the former king warned before also standing up and leaving the silver-haired man to be escorted off his personal floor by the shadow triad, smirking darkly as he left to his room to further prepare.

* * *

Mirene: So I'm putting in some darkness now, and here's when the drama genre is going to _really_ start appearing. Sorry for taking so long to update again, and I sincerely hope you will all review on your thoughts and concerns for this chapter. And now I've got to knock out for sleep, if you'll excuse me. Have a great night, because I really need one. Bye! (:


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